The Road Back Home
by ScottXLoganNetwork
Summary: Logan's life has taken a drastic turn for the worse as he finds himself miserable and broken over the loss of Scott. Alone on the road after Scott's 'death', Logan is haunted by nightmares of a life he knows he'll never be able to have again until one night a dream offers him hope that Scott isn't as far gone as he'd imagined. (AU set loosely after the events of The Wolverine)
1. Chapter 1

It all began with a whisper and a scream. Both had been equally chilling each night Logan awakened in bed with his pulse pounding and body drenched in sweat. At first he'd simply tried to pretend that it wasn't any different than what he'd endured through the years at the hands of Stryker's torment, but with each passing day he knew it was worse—much worse. Guilt was the burden of the beast he would have to carry for eternity given that death was no longer an option in his world. Then again perhaps even death wouldn't absolve him of his sins. With each passing day that thought plagued him, haunting him in his waking hours while tormenting him in his dreams. He'd sat back and watched the world fall apart and now the nightmares were his penance. He would forever be plagued with them in knowing he could never bring them back. He'd failed them all.

With a labored breath Logan stretched his arm out across the bed reaching for the lamp he knew would be there. It was the same in every place he'd landed since he'd left the school behind, but it didn't take away the nightmares. Even now he was haunted by them in his tiny hotel room knowing full well that it was silly to be afraid of the dark. Hell, he'd never been afraid of anything before he'd failed the others except for the idea of being alive forever without a memory or warmth of a body to comfort him in those times when necessity called for it. Now, as he kicked his legs over the side of his bed, he realized that had changed. Fear was his constant companion and guilt his conscience in knowing that he could've prevented the outcome that had torn apart the only real stability he'd ever known in his life. The X-Men were no more. Life as he'd known it had ended.

After the Phoenix had found its way into his life everything was different. It was frightening and all-consuming until those final moments he'd been forced to take action and murder Jean. Closing his eyes he could feel the heat of her torment still burning inside of him. He could feel her pain and suffering. In his dreams he could sense her need for release when he'd given himself to her request in taking her under. Each night he replayed it in his mind torturing himself over and over for bringing her peace at the cost of his humanity. It plagued him. It ate away at what little was left of his tortured soul, yet with each passing day the memory only seemed to intensify and take him under into the burden of the beast that no other could carry. He killed Jean Grey. He'd single-handedly destroyed the woman that he and Scott had loved. He lived with the knowledge that he murdered the woman he once felt something for before she'd disappeared the first time. With each day he realized that there was no escaping the fact that he ended the life of the woman that everyone looked up to back at the school. At the time he watched her tear away everything he'd cared about, breaking it to pieces in her madness, yet in the end he was the one who had to finish it all. He had to do what no other was willing to do and it cost him everything. When it was over he convinced the others that there were finally free. He did his best to make him believe that the nightmare was over. In the aftermath he told them all that they had to move forward and find a way to keep pushing on even through the losses, but he had no idea how difficult that would truly prove to be for himself. After a few months of half-heartedly living with the notion that he would one day find peace, he gave in to the truth that he was simply deluding himself. Peace in his life was never an option.

"Son of a bitch," Logan cursed returning to the moment in his run down hotel room when his thick, clumsy fingers found their way to the lamp. He felt its base, but with an uneasy flick of his wrist he sent it crashing down to the floor.

"Figures," he mouthed to himself when he turned towards the oversized window in the dump he'd been calling home for the last few weeks. It wasn't anything like the school, but it served as a temporary place to rest his head while he was figuring things out. Then again he repeatedly said the same thing for the last two years at every other place he'd stopped at along the way on the road back to Canada.

_"You don't have to leave Logan. In fact, we want you to stay,"_ Ororo had tried to tempt him into pushing along and helping her at the school, but he'd ultimately declined. There was no place for him there anymore.

_"We need you Logan,"_ she'd appealed to him one last time before he packed up his bag and prepared to ride off on Scott's motorcycle into the world he'd stayed away from for far too long already.

_"No you don't,"_ he'd replied giving her a quick peck on the cheek, _"You never really did. You've got this."_

_"It won't be the same without you," _she'd replied tearfully when she realized he hadn't intended on changing his mind in leaving.

_"With or without me it'll never be the same 'Ro,"_ he'd simply stated turning his back to her as he prepared to face what life was life without those he'd lost.

_"Don't think this means you have to stay away forever,"_ she called out to him when he walked down the steps towards where he'd parked Scott's bike, _"You might think leaving the answer is for now, but sooner or later I hope you change your mind. We'll always have a place for you here."_

_"Thanks,"_ he muttered before getting on the bike and leaving Charles Xavier's dream behind him in favor of the open road. He left it all behind hoping to find that peace that had evaded him in a place where memories of what was surrounded him. He thought that it would lead to something more, to some kind of awakening and realization, but the further he drove away from the past the more he found himself surrounded by his old life with dirty bars and even dirtier women at his disposal. For a couple of weeks he'd considered giving in to the temptation and finding his way back to the man that he'd once been, but after the first failed attempt at taking a busty brunette back to his hotel room with him, he realized it was a lost cause.

_"It's only temporary,"_ he remembered thinking to himself when he'd ushered the woman out of his hotel room. She hadn't liked his dismissal, but he wasn't ready. He couldn't bring himself to seek out comfort in another's arms not after all he'd lost. He thought by reaching out to a woman that it wouldn't betray the bond he had with Scott, but almost as soon as he kissed her he knew it wasn't time. Not after he found himself thinking about the kisses that he craved for far too long only to lose them all too quickly on his road to redemption. He'd come so close to having it all only to have it ripped away from him and the sad truth was that a random warm body couldn't replace the damned sentiment in his heart. Man or woman he wasn't ready then. He just needed time.

_"For now,"_ he had told himself nearly two years ago when the wounds were still raw. He convinced himself that sooner or later he'd forget the taste and touch in the slice of heaven he greedily partook in back at the school.

After a while he eventually had given in to temptation in trying to move forward when he was taken to Japan in an attempt to feel something, but it hadn't worked out for him. Instead he simply found himself on his own again drinking endlessly in bars after nameless potential partners passed through his life leaving him even emptier than before. On his own the nights felt even longer, far emptier then he'd anticipated when he'd initially taken off in the hopes that he would one day lose the pain associated with the memory of the face he'd never touch again. He'd hoped to find a new reason in life, but his mind served as a painful reminder of the life he could never have. He'd be forever haunted by the memory of the man he could never tease or caress again. He'd never find a moment of peace with that contented sigh that fell upon Scott's lips after his lover had fallen to rest in his arms. With each day the misery grew, but the memory never faded, never left him when he found himself consumed by the very idea of a man he'd never be able to hold again.

"Scott," he mouthed to himself knowing only too well that no one would answer his silent request to be reunited with his lover again. Instead he was left to wallow in his misery while the rest of the world was still asleep, blissfully unaware of the demons that Logan had kept buried deep for far too long inside of himself. Now they seemed to revel in their torment, taking him to places he swore he'd never be when he thought to the dream that haunted him each night. Closing his eyes again he could feel the fire—could almost taste the flames when they engulfed him in threatening to tear his sanity away from him. He could see the blackness in Jean's eyes, could feel her fury and torment when he'd stabbed her, but what was worse were the visions that haunted him each night. They took him from her death to another place surrounded by fog and haze, back to Alkali Lake where he'd sought out Scott in a panic only to come up empty.

"Scott," Logan mouthed closing his eyes and thinking about his nightmare. Each time they started with Jean's demise, working him back to the lake, back to that moment when Logan had held out hope that Scott was still out there.

"He's gone," Ororo had deduced after they'd discovered Jean at the lake, but Logan hadn't been so convinced. He'd been certain that Scott had to have been out there somewhere waiting to be rescued, but then his hopes and dreams had come crashing down when he'd seen Scott's glasses through the fog. They'd practically floated to him in the midst of chaos, coming to him like a siren song when Logan had found himself filled with hope that Scott was nearby. He'd wanted to believe that there was something more—that there was something deeper happening, but when the glasses shattered with Jean's grip on her sanity he'd been faced with a deeper, more profound, devastating truth.

"He's gone," Logan mouthed with a tiny shudder as he forced himself to push the memory aside. It was always there replaying in his mind, haunting him in his dreams, but tonight things had been different. Tonight things were darker, more horrifying when he pushed his way off of the bed to walk over to the wooden window frame.

On the way he stopped off at the table where he'd set a case of beer earlier in the night. With the humidity that surrounded him in the sweltering hotel room, Logan knew they would taste like warm piss, but he didn't care. He needed something to do now because he couldn't sleep. He wouldn't sleep when the dream consumed him once again. Even now he felt shivers overtake him, creeping in over his body when he thought of the visions in his mind. He could feel the fog and the scent of death in the air surrounding him even in the waking hours. The visions attempted to pull him back to the worst point in his life with Jean's torment. Each night she came to him, taunting him endlessly over what he'd done chastising him for his actions. For a brief while she'd stopped, but it was only a small reprieve when she returned to him again. Each night she took him from his solitude to memories of the he'd made a life for himself at the school only to watch it fall apart. In the dream she lingered in the haze bringing about madness and confusion when he'd been back at Alkali Lake watching the world explode around him. It caused him to tense up and shudder in his dream when he could hear Jean whispering in his ear.

_"I'm all alone Logan,"_ she taunted each night, bringing her words deep into his subconscious, _"You did this!"_

_"Jean, I'm sorry,"_ he could recall himself explaining to her each time the dream entered his mind. He'd tried so hard to forgive himself, to have her forgiveness, but over time he simply surrounded himself with her wrath.

_"You stole him from me. You took it all Logan,"_ she continued to lash out at him, _"If you won't join me, then maybe he will."_

_"Jean no,"_ Logan had shouted out watching as she walked away from him. She turned her back to him when he reached out to touch her shoulder,_"Please don't take him away from me again!"_

_"You've already lost him Logan,"_ Jean whispered darkly when she stepped out of his reach, _"We both know that."_

_"No!"_ Logan replied when another voice echoed in his mind.

_"Save him!"_ he could hear the ghost of Charles calling out to him, prompting Logan to leave the place with Jean in order to follow another instinct inside of him. There was a pull guiding him away from his guilt, leading him towards a new mission when the scene around him shifted, _"Find him Logan!"_

_"He's gone,"_ Logan had replied somberly.

_"Come with me Logan,"_ Jean ordered returning to him when she stretched her hand out to him, _"It's time."_

_"Jean,"_ Logan sighed turning to chase the phantom of the woman he'd destroyed, but each night before he could see her eyes he'd heard a scream in the distance pulling him away from Jean. He felt the terror seeping down deep into his soul causing him to lose sight of the truth he'd known. It was sharp and penetrating, deep and terrified when he turned to the water immediately recognizing the sound.

_"Scott!"_ Logan had shouted in his dreams hoping to find a way to hold onto the man he'd lost if only in his sleep, but the screams intensified, growing more desperate, more urgent until finally Logan awakened with his heart racing and mind fearful for the pain Scott had endured in his ending. It taunted him, reminded him of his shortcomings when the sad reality was that he hadn't been able to save the man he loved. He'd tried. Hell, there wasn't a day he hadn't wanted to go back and change everything about their ending, but like a stubborn fool he'd left Scott leave without so much as a goodbye.

_"Not everybody heals as fast as you, Logan,"_ he could still hear Scott's final words inside of him taking him back to all the times when he tried to change things for Scott.

After Jean's death Logan had wanted things to be different. He'd needed them to be different when he'd found himself met by surprising feelings for the man he'd dubbed a 'dick' early on. He and Scott had been reluctant to admit what was happening, but soon Logan knew. His attraction to Scott had gone beyond an obsessive need to bed the Boy Scout that had infuriated him to no end. What started as sex and comfort had evolved into a sentiment both he and Scott had been reluctant to delve into with the world around them.

_"This changes everything you know," Scott had whispered one night after they'd found their way back into Logan's room, tangled up in blankets and each other's arms. It hadn't been the first night that they'd ended up seeking comfort in one another's arms, but it had been the first time they'd been honest about what was happening after their various trips to the Danger Room to tear one another apart in ways none of the others had known about. Each time it had been harder to leave, to ignore the way it felt to have Summers over him gasping for breath and holding on as if letting go simply wasn't an option. Each night they lingered a little bit longer when the need intensified growing into something that Logan hadn't anticipated. Something changed. Something had shifted inside of Logan taking him from the reluctant soldier to a man with a cause and a purpose in his life. With Scott Summers whatever it was it had become a reason for living again—for wanting to have a future at the school with the man he'd once dubbed impossibly rigid._

_"I know," Logan had simply responded that night with Scott in his arms. He'd resigned himself to the silence in enjoying Scott wrapped up in his embrace. It seemed right with Scott stretched out across Logan's chest gingerly fingering the thick, dark hair over Logan's damp skin. It was the first time that Logan realized that Cyclops was right. Everything had changed. It had gone from violent and intense to surprisingly tender and wonderful. When Scott had suggested they try dinner and conversation Logan had been apprehensive in being convinced it was going to be a deal breaker, but instead what followed was the one thing he'd never anticipating finding again after years of loneliness. Somewhere during the night from the kitchen to Logan's bedroom with Scott's leg draped in between his thighs Logan had found the one thing that he'd convinced himself he could live without. Love._

_"I'm not suggesting that we walk around telling anyone we're going steady or anything," Scott half teased in that same characteristic uncertainty that had surrounded him when their relationship came up in conversation, "but given this thing we've got going, well, maybe it's time we agree that this becomes more permanent."_

_"Permanent," Logan repeated while fighting to suppress his natural instinct to tease Scott. Instead he curled his arm around Scott's waist drawing him in tighter against his chest, "As in a mutually beneficial, sexually exclusive satisfying situation between you and me on a nightly basis?"_

_"I was thinking about perhaps extending it into the day as well Logan," Scott raised his chin up to meet Logan's features behind those ruby red glasses, "I know I told you that I wasn't sure I was ready to move on, but…"_

_"What?" Logan inquired when Scott propped himself up on his elbows to look down at Logan._

_"As much as I loved Jean I feel like she understands what's happening here," Scott divulged quietly. He took in a nervous breath, his eyes still hidden behind the sunglasses when he forced himself to tip his head down towards Logan again, "She would want us to be happy again."_

_"With each other?" Logan inquired raising a speculative brow when Scott touched the side of his face._

_"I know it sounds crazy, but I want this to be real Logan," Scott divulged with the certainty in his voice that had been missing since the day that Jean had sacrificed herself at the lake in leaving them behind, "I don't want to waste time pretending that this is something it's not. I want something more."_

_"So do I Slim," Logan had confessed wrapping Scott up in his arms before tossing him onto the mattress again beneath him. Carefully he'd balanced his weight over Scott, taking his time to memorize Scott's chiseled features, to think about the lush lips he'd devoured time and time again. It had been enough to get his heart pumping and have his mind full of sinful notions that they'd often indulged in their time alone together, yet through it all there was something deeper growing inside of him, "I've known it for a while…long before we started this together. You're the only reason I stayed."_

_"Logan," Scott had spoken his name undoubtedly in the name of convincing Logan that simply wasn't the case. However, instead of allowing Scott to argue with him, Logan had merely kissed him again crushing Scott's body with a newfound determination to cover the words he'd feared he would say with a physical response that wasn't nearly as revealing as what had been in his heart. Time and time again he would recall that night, would remember the words he hadn't whispered to Scott to comfort him when all he'd wanted was to revel in the strange feeling that had surrounded him._

_"And you never got the chance to say them, did you?"_ a voice inside of his head reminded him when he pushed the curtain aside to look out into the parking lot. It was a full moon, bright and haunting, but it did nothing to erase the darkness inside of Logan when his thoughts returned to the dream.

_"Find him Logan,"_ a voice continued to taunt him, to draw him into madness as he replayed every moment of the day they'd lost Scott. Time and time again he'd sought out a different ending, hoping to find another way to erase what had happened, but when he'd wound up empty he'd known it was a dead end. After he'd witnessed Charles losing himself to Jean's madness, he'd realized what Scott's fate had been. Logan had lost him and there was no turning back. He'd come to accept that, but then the dreams started.

Each night Logan was taunted by his actions, tormented by Jean's ending, but it was Scott's screams that had terrified him. They'd done him in when he'd found himself immersed in endless torture, in blood and violence feeling Scott begging for reprieve. In Logan's dreams Scott was out there somewhere, lost inside of his own personal hell, wrapped up in torment and if it hadn't been for Jean's words Logan would've dismissed the dreams as his subconscious. However, tonight the dream had been different than the others. Tonight there had been an isolated area surrounded by trees and a building overrun with the scent of fear and terror. He could see it clearly through the fog. He could hear the cries inside when a storm surrounded the trees keeping those inside captive to the torture that surrounded them. The voices grew louder, the screams more desperate until that moment when he saw Scott on his knees bound and broken at the hands of men like William Stryker who were prepared to make their kind disappear. His face was sunken in, his cheekbones hollow and shaky while his skin was pale, much paler than Logan had remembered. He'd been bleeding, trapped inside of the hell that had engulfed him. With each step Logan had taken towards him, he'd realized Scott was trapped, locked inside of the prison with no hope for reprieve. He was near the end…almost ready to give up hope when Logan called out to him.

"Scott," he had roared attempting to make his way through the storm and fog, to save Scott much like he'd failed to before, but he was so far away.

"Logan?" Scott weakly questioned in the dream raising his head up to reveal his split lip and bandaged eyes. He was slimmer than Logan had remembered merely skin and bones, but there was something behind his expression that Logan had recognized.

"I'm coming for you," Logan had promised attempting to claw his way through the army that held Scott captive and away from him. With each rip and tear Logan had found himself surrounded by blood, lost in a sea of chaos until finally he'd reached the room that Scott was in. The door was slightly ajar, revealing just how weak Scott was until finally it slammed shut and Jean's voice taunted him.

_"You're too late!"_ she hissed as Logan had been jolted from his slumber, forced to face the reality of the world he now surrounded himself with.

Now as he looked down to the warm beer in his hand, he found himself wishing that things had been different, but it was that glimpse of Scott that had really haunted him. It was Scott's face that had shaken him up more than anything. Each night he'd heard the screams. He'd felt Scott's terror, but tonight when he'd seen Scott everything had changed. Unlike the last time they'd been together Scott was in a new kind of torment. He was aching in ways that Logan hadn't known and yet…

"He felt so real," Logan mouthed when he turned his attention to the moon again. It called to him, pulling him from his solitude when he discarded the empty beer bottle. The walls of his room were once again suffocating causing him to simply reach for a t-shirt and his jeans. He slipped into them ready to take a walk, to clear his head somehow and banish the overwhelming images of Scott in torment. If he could only erase the agony and blood from his mind, then perhaps he'd find peace. Perhaps he could go a night without the torture, without the regret and fear of never feeling anything again, but loss. Then again maybe if he could walk it off long enough maybe he'd simply give way to exhaustion in his mind somehow making him too tired to dream.

Moving out into the night Logan thought about the dump he'd visited earlier in the week. It was open all night and catered mostly to biker gangs and prostitutes in the area seeking out some kind of companionship. It was loud and obnoxious much like the bars Logan had frequented in the past before he'd found his way to the school. Now as he looked to Scott's bike, he found himself leaving it behind in order to walk towards the bar hoping to gain some clarity and insight in his solitude.

Moving down the dirt path away from the hotel Logan could distinctly hear the sound of metal music playing far before he'd spotted the building. Even now at such a late hour the bar was still going strong, undoubtedly bringing in a significant amount of revenue for the owner in the hell Logan had surrounded himself with. Beyond the bar there was a gas station and the open road providing an easy escape for someone who hadn't wanted to be found. It was the perfect place for Logan, but still with thoughts of Scott lingering on his mind Logan opted to keep pushing forward, to find himself a seat at the bar to drink away the nagging guilt inside of him.

"Whoa, back up!" he heard a voice from inside the bar shout out when a man stumbled out of the bar into the parking lot. He fell on his face with a woman moving behind him at a frenzied pace.

"I'm still going to get my money, right?" she questioned crouching down to discover that the man was unconscious. In a moment of survival and panic she reached into the man's pocket to pull out his wallet. Opening it up she collected all of the money that was inside of it, tucking it into the front of her shirt when she looked up to see Logan standing in front of her. For a moment panic crept over her features, her brown eyes filled with worry when Logan merely turned in the opposite direction making his way into the bar when she woman rushed off into the night hoping to avoid being seen again with her big score.

"I'll have another," a voice near the left of the bar explained when Logan heard the pounding of fists on top of the bar. He merely kept moving forward satisfied to discover that the spot he'd taken residence upon the last time he'd visited the bar was still available. Saying nothing Logan perched upon the barstool raising his chin up to look at the old black and white television on the wall. It was a sign that modern times hadn't hit this particular area when the bar was behind on technology, yet Logan found he hadn't minded when the static on the screen reminded him of a simpler time.

"I knew you'd be back," the blonde waitress behind the bar approached him with a wide grin, "Your type always is."

"Excuse me?" Logan gave her a look when he shifted on the barstool once again.

"I wouldn't sit there much longer if I were you," she replied tending to something behind the bar when Logan gave her a strange look, "Trust me."

"Why?" Logan eyed her curiously.

"Just a feeling," she shrugged as Logan felt the weight of her eyes upon him. He contemplated her words for a few seconds before grudgingly moving to the barstool beside the one he'd been seated in a few seconds earlier.

"I'll have…" Logan began when she set down a mug of beer in front of him.

"…a beer," she finished with a wink, "Yeah, I realized you had an affinity for them the other night."

"Thanks," Logan grunted reaching for the handle on the mug. He raised the glass to his lips taking it down in one, long sip before sliding the mug towards her again, "I'll take another."

"Rough night?" she questioned when he pulled a few dollars out of his pocket to slide across the bar.

"No," Logan answered turning his attention to the television set once again.

"You're not like the others in here, are you?" she attempted to continue a conversation with him, but Logan wasn't in the mood.

"Not really," he shrugged reaching for the beer when she'd brought him a refill. Looking up he could see the way she was watching him expectantly as if he would somehow reveal his life story to the woman before him. Giving her a long once over he suspected that was common place at the bar with the men who frequented it. She was young and pretty enough for those parts to capture attention, yet her eyes spoke volumes about the pain she'd put behind her even in her youth. She'd clearly experienced life in ways Logan could empathize with, but tonight wasn't about empathy. It wasn't about anything other than forgetting the dream long enough to fall into exhaustion.

"You don't talk much, do you?" she questioned reaching for a rag and wiping on top of the bar.

"You talk too much. Has anyone ever told you that?" Logan remarked with a sneer.

"Almost every damn day," she laughed much lighter than he'd anticipated in his abrasiveness.

"Hmph," Logan grunted again before focusing on the television once again. It seemed to do the trick as the woman walked away to tend to another biker who was seeking out her attention. Her absence was short-lived however when she returned to join him once again.

"I'm getting out of here in about ten minutes," she announced perhaps too eagerly when he raised a less than interested brow, "What do you say you and I get out of here together?"

"Excuse me?" Logan questioned with a frown in seeing her blue eyes upon him.

"I have a place not far from here," she reached out across the bar suggestively, "There's a storm coming on the horizon and I'd prefer not to spend it alone if you know what I mean."

"I'm not interested," Logan attempted to pull his hand away from her when her fingers wrapped tightly around his wrist.

"It's not what you think," she began again with a sudden urgency in her tone.

"Like I said I'm not interested," Logan's scowl intensified when she squeezed her fingers tighter around his wrist.

"Not even for Scott?" she questioned as Logan looked at her once again with a sudden interest.

"What did you just say?" he replied when she released him.

"You're seeking out answers," she noted standing up taller and meeting his eyes again with a newfound determination, "and I can give them to you. What you think you know isn't how things are."

"Who are you?" Logan asked wearily.

"A friend perhaps," she explained bending down to reach for something behind the bar, "That is if you're interested in playing nice."

"What do you know about Scott?" Logan questioned leaning in closer to her when she stood up to meet his eyes again.

"He's still out there," she informed him with a slur in her words, "but you'll never find him in a place like this. Come home with me Logan."

"How did you know my…?" Logan's eyes widened with surprise.

"I know a lot more about you than you think, but if you don't follow me home you'll never know the truth you're seeking out," she encouraged him once again with a hint of darkness in her tone, "The choice is yours."

"Who are you?" he questioned watching her smile expand even further through the haze in the bar.

"I'm the woman who can help you find the man you love even if he himself isn't aware of that emotion just yet," she informed him brightly with a shake of her long, blonde hair, "He's still out there Logan, but let's face it. You already were aware of that, weren't you?"

"But…" he began as she turned on her heel to walk away from him.

"The dreams were a sign," she explained when her eyes seemed to darken before him, "They were a warning of things to come Logan."

"How did you know about the…?" he blinked back at her as he found himself wondering if he was yet again trapped inside of a nightmare.

"Dreams can be windows to our soul. They unlock our deepest, darkest desires and fears, but beyond that…they also have a way of showing us what reality holds in store for us in ways that we could never wrap our brains around in the waking hours. Come on," she offered up suggestively, "It's getting late and we really don't have much time."

"Look lady I'm not going to just blindly follow you to…" Logan began rising up off of the barstool and turning away from the bar. As he moved forward he noticed a burly looking man moving in to take the seat he'd originally been in before the bartender's suggestion had lead him to another seat. Almost as soon as the man sat down the barstool crumbled to pieces sending the man to the floor beside him.

"I told you it wasn't smart to sit there," the blonde bartender explained curling her arm in his urgently, "Come with me Logan. The answers are right around the corner."

xxxxx

"We don't have much time," Logan's companion explained pushing open the driver's side door to the sedan she'd been driving in once Logan had followed her back to an old farm house. Unlike the other places in the area this home was surrounded by a thick, iron wall on the perimeter closed off from the world around it when she'd tapped her fingers on a keyboard to open up the main gate to allow them access to the property. At first Logan had been reluctant to follow wondering if he was setting himself up for some kind of trap, but once she motioned for him to drive up behind her to the house that was waiting for them he'd followed. Unlike the military grade security system that seemed to be surrounding them the home in itself was rather plain looking. It was green with burgundy colored shutters and a chipped wooden front door.

"We'll have to hurry," she explained walking over to Scott's motorcycle once Logan had turned it off, "We need to beat the storm."

"What storm?" Logan looked to the sky above them in seeing that the night's descent into morning was simply calm and peaceful as it had been most of the week.

"It's a bad one that shouldn't be taken too lightly," she replied turning her back to him. With a hurried step she moved towards the front door to the farm house not bothering to look behind her to see if Logan was following. In watching her he knew that he should be weary, but with the thought of Scott enticing him, he'd simply trotted along hoping to have a more in depth response to her cryptic wording earlier in the evening.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," she spoke up as if she'd read his thoughts in the moment, "but I can promise you the answers will become clearer once we are inside."

"What did you say your name was again?" he raised a curious brow when she stepped into the darkened living room.

"I didn't," she clarified with a thick, determined annunciation in her voice, "but since you're curious I'm Holly."

"Holly," he repeated giving her a long once over. He watched her peel her black jacket away from her shoulders to reveal her faded black leather pants and matching leather vest she'd worn to the bar, "Tell me what it is you think you know about Scott."

"I'll do you one better," she glanced over her shoulder to curl her finger at him. Her dark eyes filled with something Logan couldn't quite read when she turned around again to move down a long, darkened hallway away from the main room, "I'll show you."

"Show me what?" Logan responded wearily moving in behind her. Looking at her he realized that she wasn't nearly large enough to overpower him physically, yet in thinking about the others he'd faced in the past he was still on edge.

"The answers you're seeking out," she replied when a hint of laughter carried over her voice, "Relax Logan. There's not an army waiting for you at the end of the hallway. No one is waiting behind closed doors to abduct you and steal your life away from you again. We don't work like that here."

"What?" he questioned stopping when she spun around to face him once again.

"I'm not planning to attack you. That isn't why I brought you here with me tonight," she explained placing her hands on her hips, "You have nothing to be afraid of."

"I ain't afraid of you," Logan fought to contain the laughter that build up in the back of his throat, "You couldn't possibly weigh more than a hundred and twenty pounds at most."

"It's not my weight you should be concerned about," she replied when her eyes shifted turning to a glowing pink shade. They flickered for a moment revealing something darker before she blinked and they returned to normal again.

"You're a mutant," Logan realized watching her reach out for the doorknob behind where she stood.

"I am," she explained simply twisting the knob and allowing the door to slide open into darkness, "and a mutual friend has called upon me to see to it that you found your way back to the farmhouse with me. He wanted me to deliver a message that he felt you'd understand."

"Scott?" Logan questioned when he looked beyond where she stood to peer into the darkness before him. He raised his chin up taking a whiff of the air around him when another familiar scent lingered in the room beyond where he stood, "Chuck."

"Charles Xavier let me know that you'd be here soon. He instructed me to find a way to that bar because you would soon join us in our cause," she stepped aside to allow him access to the room. Immediately he rushed forward thinking about the man he'd watched Jean destroy all those years ago. However, much to his surprise and confusion Charles lay before him on a small bed attached to hospital machines. There was an IV line in his arm as he remained motionless before Logan as if he'd been that way for quite some time in the darkened room that surrounded him, "He's confident that you're the key to saving us all Logan."

"How is he…?" Logan's eyes widened with astonishment.

"As I said before what you think you know isn't necessarily how it is," Holly stated simply, "What you experienced in Jean's madness wasn't nearly as damning as you perceived it to be. Things are a deep contrast to the realities you've surrounded yourself with over the last couple of years."

"What would you know about my life?" Logan couldn't help, but snarl when he glanced over at her once again.

"I know that you've been miserable—that you've been tortured by dreams and desires over a life you felt fate cheated you out of," she explained drawing in a breath, "I know that there isn't a night that goes by when you aren't thinking about Scott—where you are able to find peace because without him there's been a void inside of you expanding over time."

"How could you…?" Logan began with a frown.

"Know all of this? Let's just say I've been able to read people rather well through the years," she paused when the small smirk on her features faded away into sudden seriousness. She further explained in joining him in the room, "but that's not why I brought you here tonight. We need your help Logan."

"What's happened to Charles?" Logan questioned stepping beside the bed to see Scott's mentor in a state of unconsciousness, "Why is he like this?"

"He wasn't always this way. He was actually very cohesive for a while…that is before we were attacked a while ago. They did this to him," Holly added with an uneasy sounding voice, "In an attempt to stop him from saving our kind they put him in this position, but they won't succeed in stopping him. They refuse to allow us freedom to live our lives, but we can't let them destroy the dream he's worked so hard to make happen for our kind. They can't win."

"Who are they?" Logan inquired turning his attention to her again.

"They call themselves by many names, but at the heart of it all they are a group of anti-mutant terrorists that did this to him," she explained moving to the opposite side of the bed to reach for Charles' hand. She squeezed his hand gently before raising her chin up to look at Logan again, "They did this to him a few weeks ago when they invaded our camp not far from here. We thought we were safe, but we were wrong. None of us were sure how they'd found us, but when they did Charles was trying to protect us all when they arrived. We tried to reason with them, but they wouldn't have it. They weren't interested in hearing our voices when all they were prepared for was war and violence. When we realized there was no reasoning with them, we tried to flee, but there were too many of them at the time. We were blindsided by their attack and…"

"We?" Logan questioned when there was a sound in the hallway. He turned his eyes towards the sound when he noticed a tiny purple skinned girl standing in the doorway with teddy bear print pajamas on. She seemed uncertain, weary of Logan's presence when Holly curled her finger to motion for the girl to join them.

"It's alright Violet," Holly coaxed the girl on further, "He's a friend."

The petite dark haired girl seemed satisfied with Holly's answer when she quickly moved to Holly's side. Her tiny arms immediately clasped around Holly's leg in a desperate grip when Holly bent down to scoop Violet into her arms instead.

"It's okay sweetheart," Holly kissed the small girl's head gently.

"Mommy, I had the dream again. The bad men were coming here to take me away. They were holding big guns and…" Violet explained tearfully.

"It was just a nightmare baby," Holly kissed the small girl's head again before looking over at Logan, "If you could just give us a second."

"Of course," Logan nodded watching as Holly took Violet out of the room to speak with her privately. In Holly's absence Logan refocused on the bed in seeing Charles laid out before him. Suddenly everything he thought he knew about the world around him had changed opening up the door to possibilities he hadn't thought possible a few days earlier. Moving in closer to Charles he let out a long sigh as he spoke up again, "What have you gotten yourself into Chuck?"

xxxxx

"I'm sorry about that," Holly announced returning to the room with Logan and Charles, "She hasn't been the same since our camp was attacked. She's always afraid that they are coming back to get her after she saw what happened to the others."

"She's your daughter?" Logan noted watching her nod.

"She's six," Holly replied with a small smile, "and if it wasn't for Charles finding us when he did I don't know where we'd be right now. He's been an inspiration to us all over the last year. He's a good man with such wonderful dreams."

"What's wrong with him?" Logan questioned turning his attention to Charles again.

"They injected him with something. There was a man with a gun and he pointed it at Charles, but there weren't bullets in it. There was something else—some kind of drug that put him in this position," Holly added with a small sigh, "He was trying to make them go away. He tried to use his powers to urge them to listen to reason and simply leave us alone, but for some reason they were immune to his powers. Instead they were beyond reasoning with. When they refused to back down it was clear none of us were safe. He was caught in the crossfire like so many others that…"

"What?" Logan inquired.

"He didn't stand a chance," she divulged with a tiny shudder, "They knew what he was and were ready to take him down without hesitation. It was as if they had insight on what they were facing and countermeasures in position to prevent him from making an impact."

Logan remained silent turning his attention to Charles again. In the moment he found himself remembering the last time he'd seen the man before him at Jean's childhood home lost in a moment of madness when she'd unleashed all the fury and chaos Phoenix had upon him in shattering him apart with rage. He'd ceased to exist in those devastating moments when Logan had watched Jean rip him apart, yet as he lay on the bed Logan realized he'd been wrong. What his eyes had seen in his horror had somehow come undone when he focused on the man before him.

"It was awful," Holly replied tearfully breaking through Logan's thoughts, "None of us saw what was coming. We thought we were safe at the camp, but we weren't. They knew we were all there and they were waiting for the right moment to attack when we were more vulnerable."

"Where did they come from?" Logan questioned tipping his head to the side and eyeing her closely.

"I don't know. Charles didn't either because as I told you they were using something to block our powers. It was as if they had methods of keeping us all out—from discovering the truth, but he and Scott were determined to…" Holly began to explain herself.

"Scott," Logan repeated feeling the breath catch in the back of his throat at the mention of the man he'd thought he lost in his life. Giving her a long once over her contemplated her words.

"That's right," Holly nodded, "Scott was with us as well before the attack. He was working with Charles to help keep us safe, but…"

"How is that possible?" Logan couldn't help, but question when he thought of the dreams that had haunted him over the last two years.

"You never believed him to be dead. A part of you always held out hope that Scott was still alive, did you not?" she inquired giving him a long, thorough once over.

"I saw what Jean did to Chuck," Logan replied simply.

"Yet you stand here before me seeing the proof that things weren't as you believed them to be," she paused giving heavy emphasis to her words, "Seeing isn't necessarily reason for believing in every situation. Yes, you might've watched Charles in those moments, but there was never any closure with Scott. That's why you left the school because a part of you always believed that Jean hadn't destroyed him in her madness. A part of you never wanted to believe that was how he'd met his ending…"

"How do you know about Jean?" Logan questioned wearily when she moved around the room in a slow, uneasy moment.

"I know a lot about things that most people wouldn't understand," Holly's eyes returned to the bed again, "Scott spoke of her in our talks as did Charles. They both cared deeply for her in spite of what you all endured."

"If you know what we endured, then surely you must realize that…" Logan began trying to process his thoughts when Holly reached for Charles' hand once again.

"Charles told me that you'd be here searching for Scott eventually. He knew that sooner or later you'd realize Scott was still here and when you did you'd find your way to him. You'd endure hell if need be to bring him back to you once you picked up on his presence," she hesitated before glancing over at him once again, "Granted I saw it myself, but…"

"What do you mean you saw it?" Logan asked watching her closely.

"My powers guided me to finding you long before Charles assured me you would be here," she paused when hesitance flashed over her features, "I have this way about me that, well, you see when I was quite young my birth mother died. My father wasn't in the picture so when I was adopted I didn't realize I was a mutant. No one did. It wasn't until I was a teenager that my powers manifested. At first it started with me having an intuition about things like if someone misplaced their keys or their wallet I knew where they could find it without having been there to see where they'd left it. At other times I could predict the weather, but then it grew. It escalated to me being able to read other people's thoughts and…"

"You're a telepath," Logan noted as she nodded again.

"I can also see glimpses of the past and the future," she explained poignantly when tension carried over her features, "Parts of it at least. It comes to me in visions at times with a flash of images like a snapshot in a camera. Not everything is always clear, but when I see it, well, it lets me know what to expect. Sometimes I can't quite read what is happening until it's too late like with what happened at the camp. I didn't know that they were coming for us until we were all out of options."

"Why were you in a camp?" Logan asked as he looked to her fingers curled over Charles' in a protective squeeze.

"We were hiding from those who were willing to hurt us. Out here things were different than they have been in the states, but they haven't been far behind. With the rumors of the Mutant Registration Act around the corner in congress again, we all knew that it was a matter of time before they started to collect us as they've done in the past with others they felt were different. It was already beginning in our daily lives with the division between human and mutant in the public eye. Terror was growing and hate was expanding into something awful. Some of us wanted to believe that it would eventually die down, but the fear only grew stronger. People were uncertain of what would happen to them if our kind was able to exist freely in these parts. As I'm sure you're well aware of this isn't exactly a place where we have all the modern luxuries of a city. People are set in their ways and respond to a mob mentality when prompted to react," she explained drawing in a breath, "For a while it was simply talk, but then about six months ago there was some trouble with a mutant who had attacked a young woman on her way home from work. He slashed her up rather bad after she'd rejected him and her father was a prominent politician. The case went to trial, but became more of a witch hunt than anything else. In his inability to help his daughter he made it his mission to attack all of our kind. His shouts only sparked a panic and…"

"Chaos followed," Logan frowned taking in her words.

She nodded, "At first I thought that my family would be safe, but then I had a vision of the future."

"What kind of vision?" Logan inquired watching her shudder at the memory.

"War," she explained drawing in a breath, "we were going to experience the pains of a war that we weren't equipped to battle in."

"You ran away from it before it hit your area," Logan finished knowingly.

She tearfully nodded again, "My neighbors were mutants who were in their late sixties. They lived a simple life and refused to leave with us even with my warnings. They never bothered anyone, but they had their house burned down to the ground by a hate group in the area. After that we all knew that we were no longer safe in our homes so we took refuge with one another. The world rejected and condemned us for being different, so we fled."

"You left your lives behind you?" Logan questioned with a small frown.

She nodded, "That's how we met Charles. After the attacks on our neighborhood I took on a position at a hospital to help the others like us who had been forced to leave their homes as we had. Before the chaos I'd trained as a nurse and I was able to use that to help others. Shortly after we put together our hospital we were running low on supplies so I wound up working for a short period of time at a place not far from where we'd relocated in order to get what we needed. Charles was a patient that was brought in while I was working there. He was in a coma at the time when he and I first began communicating with one another. I don't know how he was able to reach out to me at first, but he sensed my presence. He could speak through me and we discussed the state of affairs with one another. He saw what we were running from and told me of his own struggles through the years. At first I thought I was crazy, but the more we communicated with one another the deeper our connection was. I knew he was like me and I also realized that could be dangerous for him. After a few weeks of working there I had a vision of the future where they were coming after him as the next target to send a message. People were looking for him hoping to destroy him and that's when I realized we had to help him. Even in his weakened state he needed to be out of that hospital away from their agenda. I knew he wasn't safe there after I had my visions. My husband and I took him in, helped nurse him back to health and…"

"What?" Logan inquired.

"That's when Scott arrived," she explained smoothly, "He found us as Charles had anticipated he would. Even though they weren't able to speak to one another without my assistance in the beginning I was able to help them communicate with one another. Charles explained the dire nature of our situation to Scott and over time they both came to want to be a part of our cause. Scott was so strong and determined. Even after Charles found his voice Scott was driven by a need to protect our people. He promised to help save us from what we'd endured—to somehow make the dream Charles had for the future happen for our children."

"Where is he?" Logan questioned thinking about the possibility of Scott being alive. He turned to Charles again feeling his mind overtaken by a great many questions.

"Charles realized you'd want to know that Scott was still alive. Scott knew it as well. He wanted to tell you he was here Logan, but Charles counseled him on the necessity of the mission at hand. He said it was too dangerous to involve you or the other X-Men at this point. It was something the two of them were working on together that…"

"Where is he?" Logan repeated again with a growing impatience.

"He's gone," Holly informed him with a deep pain in her voice, "After the attack on our camp some of our people were murdered. Others were taken. As I said we were blindsided. Charles was with us at the time, but others were not. Scott had gone out with a group of our people hoping to investigate the threats in the area and bring back others like us. Unfortunately when they were gone that's when the group chose to attack us. They stole so many things from us that day Logan. What they did to Charles was devastating, but beyond that…so many of us will never recover from the horror they inflicted upon us. When Scott and the others returned to the camp they found out what happened. They learned about those of us who were taken away and…"

"Scott went out there to save them," Logan deduced when she nodded again.

"He led a group with my husband to go rescue the others," Holly sighed as tension carried over her posture, "That was over two weeks ago Logan. None of them have returned and I can't feel them anymore."

"You mean they're…" Logan felt his heart sink at the thought of Scott in danger.

"My husband and I have a connection with one another. I can see inside of him even when we're separated, but now," she paused when a single tear slipped past her cheek, "I don't feel anything. It's as if there's this void inside of me and with not knowing what's happened to him…"

"Where did they go?" Logan questioned standing up straighter when he felt sensation carry over the back of his neck.

"I'm not sure," Holly admitted pushing one hand through her blonde hair, "Scott wouldn't say anything to us when they left aside from urging us to stay safe here. Scott had found this place for us after the attack. He said it was a place where he'd spent some time in his youth—that he'd known first hand would protect us from danger."

"He had to leave some clue," Logan prompted her further for information, "There must be something that Scott had offered up before the group set off."

"I wish I'd asked more questions, but I was too afraid," she paused biting down on her lower lip, "However, there is one thing…"

"What's that?" Logan questioned as she looked to Charles again.

"I saw a vision of Scott," she explained nervously, "He was chained up in a dark room. It looked like some kind of basement. There was water running in the distance and footsteps."

"What else?" Logan tensed up thinking about the dream he'd experienced earlier in the night.

"Screaming," she gritted her teeth when she closed her eyes, "He was surrounded by screams. He was alone in my vision. I tried to find the others—to listen for their voices, but all I could hear was the agony. It was dark and miserable and…"

"When did you have this vision?" Logan questioned pulling her from her internal torment.

"A few days ago," she replied standing up taller, "it came to me in a dream with a woman…Jean I suspect…telling me that you were on your way. She said that you would find them—that you would make your way back to Scott and…"

"What else did you see in your vision?" Logan inquired urgently, "What else was around him at the time?"

"Water," she answered thinking about the sounds, "and pipes. There was a pipe overhead that he was chained to. It was leaking, but that wasn't the water I heard. It was…"

"Did it sound like a waterfall?" Logan replied taking in her words.

"It might have been. I don't know," she shrugged her shoulders, "I tried to ask Charles about it, but his visions are hazy as well and…"

"I think I know where they went," Logan decided drawing in a breath, "Did Scott ever mention a place called Alkali Lake?"

"No," she shook her head firmly, "why?"

"Because I think that could be a possibility. It's the perfect place for an anti-mutant group to set up shop," Logan turned his attention to Charles once again, "If they were looking for the tools to get their mission underway, then that would be the perfect place to start."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because it has a history of violence and destruction against our kind," Logan puffed out his chest when he realized what the dreams had been trying to say to him, "which is why I need to go out there tonight. If that's where they are…"

"Logan," she called out to him as he turned his back to her, "wait. The storm…"

"What storm?" he questioned when the sound of thunder shook the roof on the farmhouse above them.

"That storm," she frowned turning her attention to Charles once again, "It's not time to start running out into the night especially in not knowing what it is you're looking for."

"I know more about this than you can imagine," Logan divulged thinking about his past, "It's not safe for anyone out there and if they are at the base…"

"Then you're going to need help," she mouthed quickly, "There are still a few of us who are ready to do what is necessary to help the cause. Violet, Charles and I aren't the only ones here. There are others who can go with you and…"

"I go alone. It's safer that way," Logan motioned to where Charles was laid out before him, "He'd tell you that himself if he could. It's the way I work."

"It's too dangerous to go into this alone," she began again.

"It's even more dangerous to take anyone with me especially if the last group that went out with Scott hasn't returned. I can hold my own in ways that not many others can, so I'll be fine," Logan informed her when another rumble of thunder shook the walls of the farmhouse, "I'll leave in the morning when the storm passes."

"At least let me make you something to eat," she suggested moving away from Charles to step at his side.

"You said Scott stayed here, did you not?" Logan questioned thinking about what she'd told him about Scott.

She nodded, "It was only for a short time, but yes, he had a room down the hall. It's the first door on the left and…"

"Thank you," Logan replied not bothering to say anything further when he followed her directions to the room she'd singled out for him. Reaching for the doorknob he was suddenly overtaken by a scent he hadn't paid attention to upon his arrival. How he'd been able to ignore it's strength was beyond him as he found himself overtaken with the rush of thrill in the scent associated with Scott. Now it seduced his senses bringing him back to temptation when he turned the knob to open the door. Inside of the room was nearly as empty as the one Charles was in. There was a small twin sized bed near the center of the room and a nightstand with a lamp on it. Beside the lamp was a set of keys and a piece of paper folded near the edge.

"What did you get yourself into Scott?" Logan questioned when he found his mind returning to their beginnings. He could clearly recall the way Scott had come to him in the past calling Logan out on his standoffish behavior when it came to working as a team.

_"If we do this, we do it as a team…" Logan could still hear Scott's words echo in his mind taking him back to the first time he'd pushed Scott's resistances. He could clearly remember Scott offering him a uniform to wear on the mission to Liberty Island. After that Logan had shocked Scott by stripping down shamelessly in front of Scott almost to spite him when Scott had stood in the room helplessly uncomfortable when Logan had left him without room for an exit._

_"What are you doing?" Scott had questioned when Logan tossed his clothing aside to stand before Scott in a brazen display of nakedness._

_"What does it look like?" Logan had grumbled placing his hands on his hips to offer himself on full display when Scott stood speechless before him too flustered to muster up any kind of comprehensive thought. He'd merely reached into the glass and pulled out a uniform for Logan before stomping out of the room in a frazzled state. It should've been enough to give Logan a small rush of pleasure in intimidating the fearless leader of the X-Men, but more so it had left Logan intrigued when he'd taken a whiff of the surprising arousal that lingered in Scott's absence. It had caught Logan off guard, but more so had left him feeling something he hadn't anticipated for the impossible man he'd clashed with._

_"You'll be the death of me," Scott had teased much later when the two of them had found their way into Logan's bed tangled up in one another, "We're going to go straight to hell for this."_

_"I'm willing to burn if it means you'll keep coming back for more," Logan snarled pinning Scott down on the bed before forcing him to submit to passion all over again in the privacy of Logan's room away from the others._

_"And yet…" a voice inside of Logan's head hesitated before speaking up again, "you let him go. You let him simply walk away without so much as a goodbye."_

"That's not going to happen again," Logan mouthed reaching for the piece of paper that Scott had left on the nightstand. It still had traces of his scent lingering over it, causing Logan to pull it in closer when he found himself overtaken by the memory of the dream.

With a shudder Logan lowered the paper simply unfolding it and looking at the scribbles on the page. As Logan looked at it he found himself on edge when he realized it was the same building that had haunted him in his dreams. Somehow Scott had made a remarkable replica of the place Logan had been dreaming about and suddenly in the moment Logan found himself met with purpose and reason again. Walking out of the bedroom he moved down the hallway only to discover Holly in the kitchen tucked away near the back of the house. She stood near a window looking out into the yard at the rain coming down around them.

"Do you know where this is?" Logan questioned holding the paper up to show her.

"No," she shook her head firmly, "It doesn't look familiar."

"Take a good look at it," Logan nudged it in closer to her, "Tell me if something feels familiar about any of it."

"I don't know…" Holly frowned reaching for the paper and taking a closer look, "I don't recall seeing anything like this around here. It's…"

"It's the slaughterhouse by the old mill in Wilbury," another voice announced as Logan looked up to see an elderly woman peering into the kitchen from the doorway, "It hasn't seen life in years, but it was once a very frightening place."

"Where can I find it?" Logan questioned refocusing his attention to the woman before him.

"It's about an hour and a half north of here in good weather," the woman informed him with an uneasy expression on her face, "but it hasn't been used in years. They say it's haunted."

"Haunted," Logan repeated with a small laugh, "Hmph, well, we'll see about that."

"Do you think that's where they are?" Holly questioned giving the paper in Logan's hand another look.

"I think it's worth checking out," Logan explained drawing in a breath, "You said it's about an hour and a half north of here?"

"In good weather," the woman nodded quickly.

"Think you can draw me a map on how to get there?" Logan inquired thinking about the task ahead of him.

"I can do you one better. I can pull you one up on the internet," the woman decided scratching her head and moving out of the kitchen to retrieve Logan's request.

"Logan, what are you doing?" Holly questioned reaching for his arm when he attempted to follow their new arrival.

"Finding the others," he answered gruffly.

"What about the storm?" she asked.

"I'll worry about it later, but right now this needs my attention," he replied turning to walk away again.

"Wait," she squeezed her fingers around his bicep, "at least take my car with you. You'll never make it far on that bike."

"That bike has been to hell and back with me," Logan announced with a wide grin, "It can handle a little bit of rain. That much I'm sure of."

xxxxx


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Logan cut the engine realizing the dull roar would be a dead giveaway as he found his way up the winding road to a place that time had forgotten. As he'd been instructed he'd passed by an old mill—one that had seen better days back when that part of the world had been thriving. Now it was simply broken down remains of a life that once was. On some level Logan empathized with that having felt that way himself, but now after the storm had started to pass he knew that was irrelevant. Now he was armed with a new mission at hand—one that would bring him closer to the one thing he'd convinced himself he would have to live without.

"Scott," Logan mouthed to himself when he took a whiff of the night surrounding him. Knowing the risk involved in his quest Logan tucked Scott's bike aside and prepared to step up to the challenge at hand. He knew it would be more of a risk breaking in during the daylight, so he'd braved the storm making his way up to the hill looking down upon the old slaughter house that the rest of the world had wanted to forget. On the outside it was tarnished and cracked revealing signs of better days, but it was the scent in the air that really captured Logan's attention. It was fused with death and torment, something that went well beyond the animals that had been present through the years. This was closer to home. This was…

"Human," Logan shuddered when it dawned in on him that the place before him held a darker purpose. It had used it's forbidden history to entice a new breed of butchers, some that valued life even less than Logan had anticipated when he spotted the first sign of trouble before him. To the right of the building he noticed two men walking the perimeter dressed in black uniforms. They moved with ease, straight and to the point as one waved a flashlight around in the air. Crouching down Logan listened hearing the faint sounds of laughter when one guard told the other a joke. It seemed to go over well when the second man readjusted the strap of his gun over his arm with a snort and another laugh.

"Shouldn't be too hard," Logan mouthed to himself when he moved forward keeping low as to avoid any notice until he was upon the laughing guards. In a matter of seconds he'd been able to immobilize them without so much of a whisper out of them alerting anyone else of Logan's presence. Once he'd left them on the ground with their weapons destroyed he turned his attention to the building again. It was dark and seemingly empty, but with Logan's heightened sensations he knew that it wouldn't be that way inside. Turning his attention to the guards again he noticed the stockier one to the left as he found himself contemplating a new way into the building after all.

xxxxx

"You'll tell me what you know Summers," the man with the damned cattle prod ordered with a grit and a sneer that would've caused any other man to stop cold in his tracks, but not Scott. He knew what the man was capable of, what he'd been attempting to do to Scott in his torment, yet Scott had remained firm not allowing the man to see him show any sign of fear or concern. Granted Scott had plenty of reason to be concerned, but not for himself. His thoughts were for the others he'd arrived with as he listened to the sound of the man's footsteps moving closer to him, "If you won't talk, I'll find ways to make you talk."

"Take your best shot," Scott mouthed defiantly. He raised his chin up, following the source of the sound behind the blindfold he'd been wearing. Even with his arms chained above his head from his crouched position on the cold, stone floor he'd felt no need to comply to his tormenter's demands. Instead he kept his face neutral refusing to give away anything when the man approached him again.

"You're not listening to me boy," the man snarled full of menace, "I don't take to being ignored when I ask for something."

Scott simply remained silent thinking about the days he'd put behind him. They'd been much of the same situation from the onset with one of the men who'd held them captive coming in to interrogate him, to try to pull his 'secrets' from within by threatening maiming and torturing him. Each time they'd tried in attempting to push Scott past his limits, but he'd kept his cool. He'd remained in control of the situation despite their attempts to prove to him otherwise.

"Talk now!" Scott's tormentor snarled opting to discard the cattle prod in the name of intimidating Scott with sheer force instead. His fist flew into Scott's jaw causing his head to buck back with more impact than Scott cared to admit to. He felt blood in the back of his throat indicating that the last hour and a half had taken it's toll on his body, but he still remained firm in his decision to sit back and take what was needed until the time was right.

"You really shouldn't have done that," Scott spat out the blood that pooled in his mouth. He could feel his arms going numb, but he simply shifted on his knees tipping his head up towards the source of the sound once again, "That was a mistake."

"No mutie," the man sneered at him, "Your mistake was thinking that you could outsmart all of us. Did you really believe that you abominations could hide forever?"

"We shouldn't have to hide," Scott replied defiantly when he felt the man's fist approaching. This time, however, Scott was prepared for what was to follow. So much so that the man hadn't realized that somewhere between his last attempt at interrogating Scott and this moment that Scott had found a way to break the chains that had bound him to his makeshift prison cell. He'd known from the man's arrival that he hadn't been aware of Scott's new freedom, yet Scott had remained still waiting for the right moment for nightfall when there would be a smaller number of men on duty keeping guard. He hadn't seen the light fade away from the room they'd kept him in with his blindfold on, but he'd felt it when the room had grown colder. It alerted him to the impending change of staff that would certainly happen as it had each and every night. It left a moment of vulnerability and it was in that moment that Scott was ready to strike.

Scott sprung up on his knees rising to his feet and seizing the man's flailing arm in a lightening quick movement. He felt the man's arm tight and tense in his grasp when Scott twisted his arm up around his body. The man grunted preparing to call out for help when Scott's other arm surrounded the man's neck with the chains. He squeezed them around the man's neck effectively immobilizing him with a tight pull. Instead of screaming the man simply gasped for breath, attempting unsuccessfully to pry Scott off of him until finally he'd lost enough oxygen to fall forward.

"Oh no, you don't," Scott mouthed keeping his grip on the man when he'd carefully adjusted the man in his arms before he could go down with a crash. Feeling around his cell Scott carried the man over to where he'd rested in the past, knowing that none of the guards would think twice of it in seeing a sleeping man on the straw piled in the corner. Shuffling his fingers around Scott reached into the man's pockets quickly discovering the jangling key ring that he'd paid attention to each and every time the man had paced around the room attempting to break Scott's resolve.

"I'm afraid we can't have you leaving anytime soon," Scott mouthed to the man feeling around to locate the chain on his ankle. He stretched his fingers out feeling around for the lock as he listened to the sound of the keys in his hand. There were nearly half a dozen of them, but judging by the shape and texture Scott was able to pinpoint what he'd felt would be an adequate key. It easily slid into the lock freeing his ankle before he reached to the man on the ground across from him, "Let's just make sure that won't be happening, shall we?"

Clumsily Scott managed to latch the chain around the guard's ankle before he rose to his feet again in knowing that phase one of his plan was already in motion. Phase two would prove to be a bit more difficult as Scott kept his eyes closed and thought about the journey he'd made to his cell over the last two weeks. He'd been taken out of the room twice for further attempts at an interrogation and each time he'd been patient charting out his path and that of the others on his way back. He had it in his head that it was twenty one steps to the door followed by two hundred and fifty two steps to the station where the guards would be waiting. Forty six steps to the left were the other holding cells and beyond that it would be another six hundred and twenty eight steps until that point where Scott remembered the sound of water in the distance leading out to the woods behind the slaughter house he'd seen briefly on the way inside.

"You can do this," he mouthed to himself when he rose to his feet again. Freedom was right around the corner. He could almost feel it as he found himself bound and determined now more than ever to get out of the hell he and the others had been subjected to.

xxxxx

"Eight guards down and four more to go," Logan thought to himself when he rounded the corner preparing to take out the last obstacles on his way to finding Scott again. He could feel Scott's presence stronger than ever when he'd been met by Scott's scent. He could almost feel him in the room beside him alive again as Logan snarled. Thinking about his dream he could recall the way in which he'd seen Scott being tormented, lost inside his own personal hell for so very long.

"I'm coming for you," Logan announced rounding the corner to slash at the guard he'd been listening to when another surprising sound filled the air around him.

"What the…?" the guard questioned when a slamming sound carried over the hallway. It was followed by a grunt and a thud when Logan leapt out into the hallway preparing to take on whatever was waiting for him. What he found instead was the petite red haired woman he'd left behind months earlier with a sword in her hand doing her best to immobilize the guards before him. Frowning he creased his brow at her, "Yukio?"

"What?" she stood up taller straightening her posture with a sideways grin, "You didn't really think I would leave you all alone, did you? I am your bodyguard after all."

"I told you before I don't need a bodyguard," Logan scowled down at her when she pushed her sword back into its sheath, "This isn't a place for you."

"You're in danger," she explained standing up taller, "which is all the more reason for me to be here Logan. I told you I'm here to help…"

"You can't," Logan frowned looking around the corridor for any signs of trouble around them, "not with this."

"Why?" she inquired stubbornly, "Is this because of Scott?"

"Scott," he repeated with a frown and a weary expression on his face, "How do you know about Scott?"

"You're a terrible dreamer Logan," she explained pursing her lips together, "Your nightmares reveal the truths you try to hide in your heart."

"Look, I ain't getting you involved in this. You can just leave now and…" Logan stopped himself when he heard the sound of gunfire in the distance beyond where he and Yukio stood with one another. Without hesitation he pushed her aside and rushed towards the source of the sound only to discover an abnormally thin Scott dressed in a tattered, gray prison uniform hovering over the guard with blood on the front of his shirt. His cheek was cut, eyes covered in a dirty, white blindfold with his messy dark hair damp and unruly around his face when he touched the side of the guard's neck once again.

"Scott?" Logan questioned feeling as if the breath had been taken from him when he noticed the man he loved crouched down on the ground before him.

"Help me get him out of the hallway before the others see him," Scott ordered not bothering with any pleasantries as Logan moved forward.

"Scott, what are you…?" Logan began to question when the sound of footsteps filled the hallway.

"Too late!" Scott announced springing up to his feet again with his hands out in front of him. He seemed to be listening tipping his head towards the sound when tension carried over his sculpted jawline, "Logan, look out!"

"What?" Logan questioned watching Scott crouch down when the sound of bullets splashed out across the stone wall in their direction. Immediately Logan lunged forward with claws out preparing for an attack. He felt the bullets slice into his skin, tearing into his flesh, but it did nothing to alleviate the fury inside of him over the condition he'd discovered Scott in.

"Get him!" one man ordered when Logan noticed a rush of movement to his left. Before he could question Scott was on top of the guy wrestling the gun out of his hand without hesitation. He managed to get the man down before another guard approached coming straight at Logan.

"I've got this!" Logan announced charging upon the man before him with a snarl.

"No, this one is mine!" Yukio announced joining them with her sword in hand. She charged at the guard taking him down in the blink of an eye to offer up a momentary reprieve before a dozen others made their way into the hallway surrounding them.

One after another the guards arrived, each one attempting to fire upon Scott, Logan and Yukio, but as with the first few on the scene they wound up on the ground passed out and incapacitated in between Yukio's swordsmanship, Logan's attack and Scott's surprising martial arts moves meant to take them under.

"Logan, what are you doing here?" Scott finally questioned when the last guard was on the ground out cold.

"Saving your ass," Logan responded as he heard another guard approaching. Before he could react he watched Scott spin around on his heel, sending his fist out into the center of the man's face and knocking him out cold without hesitation.

"Yeah? How's that going for you?" Scott replied tipping his head back over his shoulder with a hint of a smile teasing over the corners of his mouth. His eyes were covered, but the expression on his face said it all in the few seconds of quiet they shared with one another. However, it was short-lived when Yukio stepped in closer to them.

"Not as well as he's anticipated I imagine," Yukio made her presence known when Scott turned towards the source of the sound.

"Who's this?" Scott questioned standing up taller when Yukio offered up her hand to him.

"I'm Logan's bodyguard," she explained sliding her fingers over Scott's in a small brush of movement, "I'm…"

"...getting out of here," Logan frowned in response, "I told you we have it covered already."

"I can see that," Yukio spoke up with a hint of sarcasm in her tone when she addressed Scott again, "I'm Yukio and you must be Scott. Logan's told me so much about you."

"Is that right?" Scott questioned wrinkling his nose when he tipped his head to the side.

"It's my understanding that you're a great warrior and leader to our kind," she explained simply, "He holds you in the highest regard."

"Enough with the chit chat," Logan frowned turning his attention to the hallway again.

"Logan, you really need to learn to relax before…" Yukio began, but her words were brought to an abrupt end when a flashing red light lit up the hallway around them.

"Damn it," Scott cursed when the sound of an alarm rang out overhead, "Logan, that means we've got five minutes before there will be another dozen of them coming down upon us. We need to get everyone out of here now."

"Where are they?" Logan questioned as Scott moved down the darkened hallway without hesitation.

"This way," Scott explained rushing to the holding area where the others had been held captive, "We need to get them out of here fast Logan. There's an exit at the end of the hall into the woods and…"

"How do you know that?" Logan inquired as Scott held the keys out to Logan to take from him.

"I just do," Scott mouthed impatiently, "If you can open the cells then we can probably hold them off long enough for the others to escape."

"How many are there?" Logan questioned simply falling to task with Scott's orders.

"Eleven," Scott replied simply, "Five in the first cell on right, three in the one that's last on the left and the rest are in holding area at the end of the hallway. We need to hurry."

"Got it," Logan answered giving Scott another long, uneasy look when Scott stood in the center of the hallway with a scowl on his face.

"Now Logan!" Scott ordered with a bit more agitation in his tone, "We don't have all day."

"But Scott…" Logan stopped himself when he immediately recognized the expression on Scott's face. It meant business in ways that Logan had learned the hard way in the past would only lead to trouble if Logan didn't comply. With a small sigh Logan reached out to touch Scott's shoulder, to feel the warmth of the man he'd imagined he'd never see again standing beside him when he finally conceded to his former lover's request, "fine."

"I can help hold the guards off," Yukio announced moving towards the front of the hallway to be on point in looking out for new arrivals.

"Hurry!" Scott mouthed turning in the direction of the long hallway they'd worked their way through moments earlier.

"I'm on it," Logan announced doing as instructed in making his way to the holding cells. He quickly pushed a key into the lock only to discover it was the wrong one. Shuffling through them it only took him two tries until he was able to open the door to reveal the five prisoners inside.

"We aren't going to talk," one of the battered looking men snarled while weakly pushing himself up off of the bench he'd been seated on, "Whatever it is you think you can do to us, it won't work. We won't…"

"Relax," Logan mouthed when he sensed the fear in the room around him, "I'm here to help."

"Help?" another man repeated with questioning eyes, "Why should we believe you?"

"Because you don't have time to argue," Logan responded when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching, "Move now!"

The men in the cell stood up each one of them ready to make their escape when Logan turned to take a look over at Scott. He was standing in the middle of the hallway listening and waiting much like he had earlier when they'd been fighting off the guards together. For a moment Logan contemplated joining him and Yukio before anyone else arrived, but much to his dismay he heard the agitation in Scott's voice when Scott snapped at him.

"Keep moving Logan! We're running out of time!" Scott shouted as Logan moved onto the next cell. By the time he'd freed the prisoners the group had come together heading in the direction of the last cell. Of the group one man stepped forward and offered his assistance to Logan.

"I can free the others," he explained stretching his arm out for the keys, "If you just let me help…"

Logan looked over his shoulder to where Scott was now fighting off a guard who had made it to the hallway before the others. Shifting his gaze between the man beside him and Scott he finally handed over the keys. Yukio had moved in closer to where Logan was with the prisoners taking control of another hallway when Logan watched her knock the guards down without hesitation.

"Keep moving," Logan added with a frown, "Whatever happens in here don't look back! Just get everyone out into the woods and as far away from here as you can."

"What about him?" the man questioned as Logan noticed the wedding ring on his finger. Raising his chin up Logan realized the man before him looked strikingly familiar as Violet had his features.

"Holly's worried about you," Logan replied in warning, "Get the hell out of here and don't get yourself caught again. Scott and I will be fine. Now go!"

"Thank you," Holly's husband replied returning to the task in rescuing the others.

"Yukio!" Logan shouted once she'd finished with the two guards that had approached her, "Help them!"

"Logan," she frowned watching as he motioned to Holly's husband and the others.

"They're going to need someone to guide them out of here," Logan informed her with a snarl, "Take them into the woods and back to where I was staying. I'm sure you know where that is."

"Of course I do," she nodded accordingly, "I am your bodyguard after all."

"Yeah, we'll talk about that later," Logan frowned taking a look over his shoulder at Scott, "but for now I'm going to need you to protect them and keep them safe."

"You have my word on that," she nodded moving in to join the others on their quest for freedom. Once Logan heard Yukio helping Holly's husband open up the last holding cell he knew they'd be able to get out unscathed when Logan turned his attention to Scott again. He watched as the guard Scott was fighting was joined by another guard that Scott hadn't anticipated. The second man moved in on Scott catching him off guard when he slammed the butt of his gun into the back of Scott's knee causing him to buckle forward onto the ground. He attempted to pull himself up when the first guard kicked at Scott's abdomen causing a gust of wind to escape from his lungs.

"Son of a bitch!" Logan roared rushed forward seizing the man who was kicking Scott by the collar. In an instant Logan slashed his claws into the man and tossed him aside only to feel the second man with a gun charge at him. Turning around Logan pushed his claws into the man's abdomen causing his face to twist with agony and astonishment when he dropped down to the ground to join the other Logan had incapacitated moments earlier.

"Scott," Logan began watching Scott struggle to pull himself off of the ground. He stretched his arms out against the stone wall refusing to accept Logan's assistance when he raised his chin up only to meet Logan with a tight, agitated scowl.

"Logan, what are you doing? I specifically told you that…" Scott scowled preparing to lash out at Logan when Logan moved forward to collect Scott in his arms.

"I know what you said, but we don't have time to play around Cyke. Yuk's got it covered," Logan decided picking Scott up over his shoulder before he could argue further, "It's time to leave."

"But the others…" Scott frowned.

"They'll be safe, but we won't be just screwing around down here when it's clear you're injured," Logan explained turning on his heel to follow the path the others had taken to the building's dark exit.

"Logan, I'm fine. Just put me down!" Scott ordered wiggling in Logan's arms, "I'm not helpless. I don't need you to…"

"I realize that, but right now you don't have a choice. I'm getting you out of here because I'll be damned if I let anyone else keep you away from me again Scott," Logan announced moving faster with each breath he took in knowing that the man in his arms was no longer an illusion his mind had conjured up. Even with Scott angrily slung over Logan's shoulder the warmth of him radiated over Logan's skin causing him to realize how much he'd missed the connection between them, to think about how much he'd longed for the opportunity to hold him just once more only in his dreams Scott hadn't been hurting or angry, but rather wrapped up in the safety of his blankets and…

"Logan, I really don't need…" Scott's words were brought to a halt when the sound of guards behind them caused Scott to let out a pinched groan, "Damn it."

Before Logan could react he felt Scott reaching for the blindfold pulling it from his eyes as he let out a small grunting sound. Logan could feel Scott shift over his shoulder positioning himself for the maximum impact when Scott gripped onto Logan's shoulder tightly.

"Brace yourself Logan. This isn't like before. I don't know what will happen," Scott warned opening his eyelids to offer up a blast that immediately tore the ceiling down behind them. Unlike the other times when Scott was controlled in his blasts the force of it bounced off of the walls, causing a flash of spiraling red behind them when Logan noticed the stone wall around them glowing. He picked up the pace feeling the walls shake when the force of the blasts sent them both forward into the darkness with the walls crumbling behind them. The weight of the exploding building caused Logan to slam forward into the night. He landed on the grass out of control and off balance when Scott seemed surprised by his powers as well. He let out a small sound when Logan tumbled forward repositioning Scott in his arms so that Scott lay beneath him on the grass when they fell.

"You alright Slim?" Logan questioned after he'd braced himself on his elbows to keep from crushing Scott beneath him.

"I'm fine Logan," Scott explained behind pinched eyelids. He exhaled sharply, clearly uneasy about what had happened when Logan reached out to touch the side of Scott's face to wipe at the dried blood and dirt that had collected on his otherwise flawless flesh. He was paler than Logan had remembered with dark stubble over his hollow cheekbone indicating that he hadn't shaved in a while.

"You look like shit Slim," Logan frowned pushing the pad of his thumb over the center of Scott's mouth. He watched Scott's plump bottom lip sliding against the press in a scowl when Logan felt Scott tense up beneath him on the ground.

"You smell like it," Scott replied stiffly when Logan's fingers extended over his cheek again cupping Scott's face on the left side as he had before they'd parted ways, "Have you been spending your days in a bar?"

"No, more like hell," Logan leaned forward preparing to steal a taste of the lips he'd coveted for so very long when another alarm sounded in the distance.

"Logan, we've got to move," Scott frowned attempting to pull himself up off of the ground.

"Fine," Logan rolled off of Scott in an attempt to help him off of the ground, "I have your bike up on the hill over there and…"

"No," Scott shook his head firmly, "we have to join the others. We can't leave them on their own in the woods. They aren't safe on their own."

"They're fine Scott," Logan explained looking around for any sign of the others around them after they'd made their escape, "Yukio's with them."

"They're my responsibility Logan," Scott informed him firmly, "We go after them and make sure they find their way home."

"You're an impossible shit. You know that, right?" Logan rose to his feet and placed his hand on Scott's shoulder to help him off of the ground.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Scott attempted to stand upright when it was clear that his knee had taken more of an injury than he'd let on. Instead of waiting for Scott to tell him that he was fine again Logan took the initiative to reach out and hoist Scott over his shoulder once again without hesitation. It prompted another scowl from Scott as Logan spoke up again.

"My rules," Logan stated firmly, "We follow your plan, but we do it my way."

"Wow, some things never change do they?" Scott groaned outwardly when Logan set off in the direction he'd anticipated the others going in. He followed the scents he'd picked up in the cells as Scott seemed to relax in his arms.

"Not where you're concerned Slim," Logan promised making his way into the trees bound and determined to find their way to freedom with the others and to peace at long last, "never where you're concerned."

xxxxx

Teasing hints of daylight poured through the opening in the trees giving way to the light that surrounded the dense forest around Scott and Logan. It had been hours since they'd left the compound yet they still hadn't crossed paths with the others. It seemed the endless maze of trees were nothing more than a blur giving Logan time to think about Scott's uneasiness in being over Logan's shoulder. He'd protested long enough for Logan to finally set Scott down and guide him along the forest by holding onto his hand. In the past it might've been an uncomfortably intimate gesture they'd simply opted to bypass with one another. Now, however, it felt like the most natural thing in the world when Scott's slender fingers remained entwined in Logan's.

"This is ridiculous," Scott mouthed releasing his hold on Logan's fingers when he stopped moving with a grunt, "Surely we should've run into them by now. Something must be wrong. They must've found them and taken them back when…"

"Scott, they're safe," Logan attempted to put Scott's mind at ease when he turned around to see the scowl on Scott's face, "They know how important their escape was. Plus Yukio is the best at what she does."

"Most of them are far too weak to make it on their own," Scott pushed his hand up to wipe at his sweat covered brow, "They need us Logan. They need…"

"You need a moment to rest," Logan looked down to the blood over the front of Scott's shirt, "You've been pushing yourself too hard."

"Not hard enough," Scott argued preparing to take a step forward when a twig snapped underneath his footing causing him to lose his balance.

"Slim stop," Logan frowned reaching out to collect Scott in his arms again. When he felt Scott resist the embrace Logan simply squeezed his arms harder around Scott's waist to pull him in against his broad, muscular chest.

"Logan please," Scott opened his mouth to say something more, but instead was silenced by the feel of Logan's thick fingers sliding up into his cheekbone to coax Scott's mouth in a new direction.

"They're fine Scott, but you aren't," Logan reminded him pointedly.

"I'll survive," Scott answered stiffly when his dark lashes seemed to flutter even behind closed eyelids.

"You have no idea how good that sounds to me right now," Logan divulged pushing his fingers into Scott's unruly dark hair. He felt the soft bristling edges beneath his touch when Scott let out a long sigh.

"Logan, we really need to keep moving," Scott opened his mouth in protest only to have Logan grip onto him tighter than before.

"Can't we just have a minute to talk?" Logan questioned leaning in closer to Scott. In the light Scott looked even paler than his initial assessment. The dark bruising on his cheek seemed even worse than he'd imagined behind the shadows in the compound. Now it served as a reminder of the pain Scott had endured in their time apart, "Scott."

"What Logan?" Scott frowned pushing away from Logan before they could establish an air of intimacy between them. Staggering away from Logan in the maze of trees Scott let out a harsh exhale, "What do you want to talk about?"

"You, me," Logan threw his hands up in the air, "us."

"Us," Scott repeated with tension coiling through his body, "I don't know if now is really the time or the place to be discussing us when…"

"Why didn't you tell me that you were still alive?" Logan questioned bluntly when Scott leaned up against a tree, "Why lead me to believe you were gone?"

"Charles asked me to keep you out of this," Scott divulged quietly, "I was following an order…"

"A shitty order," Logan growled back at him.

"It was still an order and when Charles asks something of me…," Scott raised his chin up defiantly.

"You ignore logic and reason and dutifully go to the task," Logan mouthed with an air of distain in his voice, "To hell with what's right."

"It's something you could learn from me Logan. When you're given an order you don't argue. You simply do what's required of you and…" Scott backpedaled when his palm flattened out against the tree behind him.

"And what?" Logan snarled, "You leave the man you love to think that he's lost you? To think that you were dead all this time? Scott, do you have any idea what I've been through without you? Do you know the places I've been after you've been gone?"

"I'm sure you were just fine," Scott replied behind gritted teeth.

"Fine?" Logan repeated with a shake of his head, "Scott, I thought I'd lost you forever. I thought that Jean took you away from me and…"

"What difference did it make?" Scott questioned with an uneasiness ruling his words, "I was never part of the big picture for you anyway. It was always Jean you wanted, right?"

"I don't believe this," Logan threw his hands up in the air and groaned, "Is that what you really believe? That I was only with you because I couldn't have her?"

"We made no illusion about what we were," Scott bit down on his lower lip fighting to suppress the words that worked their way into his mind.

"You're right," Logan frowned, "We didn't which is why this conversation is completely ludicrous. To think for a second that you believe the only reason I was with you was because…"

"I don't blame you for wanting her," Scott answered with a distance in his voice, "I know how intoxicating she is. I spent most of my life loving and needing only her Logan. She was everything to me."

"I know she was," Logan watched as Scott shuddered again, "She was a special woman."

"She healed me for so long, but now…" Scott's words tapered off when darkness carried over his features.

"What?" Logan questioned watching Scott's throat bounce with emotion.

"I'm empty," Scott answered painfully, "A part of me is gone and I know it's not ever going to come back Logan. She took that with her when she died. She made sure of that."

"No," Logan shook his head firmly, "I refuse to believe that Scott. I know that there are still so many questions between us, but as for Jean…"

"I failed her. I disappointed her and she let me know it," Scott informed him stiffly, "She hated me for what I did and left me to face the consequences of my actions."

"What did she do to you?" Logan questioned lowering his voice, "Where did you go?"

"Nowhere," Scott answered with a shrug, "There was nothing left of me when I found her again. She took me with her."

"You're right here Scott," Logan reminded him with a frown, "I know that it's been a while, but seeing you before me…"

"I'm not the man I once was. I don't know if I can ever be that man again," Scott added somberly, "When Jean left me I changed Logan. Everything changed."

Scott fell to silence turning his head to the side and keeping his eyes closed tightly. He reached up to fold his arms over the center of his chest when a shudder carried over his body. It was then that Logan's eyes were drawn to the blood on his clothing. He could see the red marks around his wrists and the bruises on his arms when it dawned on him what Scott must've endured in his time in captivity. Softening his tone Logan stepped forward attempting to reach out to Scott again.

"Scott…" Logan opened his mouth to say something more when his heart ached for the man he loved before him broken and bruised in ways Logan couldn't even begin to imagine.

"Don't," Scott spoke up defiantly bringing his hands out to prevent Logan from touching him, "I don't want your pity Logan. I don't want you to do this."

"Do what?" Logan questioned watching as Scott shivered before him.

"I don't want you to feel sorry for me," Scott answered firmly, "I don't deserve it. People were hurt because of my actions and now…"

"Now you're dwelling in misery because it's the one thing you desperately cling to Scott," Logan frowned back at him, "Instead of being grateful that you're alive you're ready to fall right back into that pattern that you were in before all because it's easier than being with me."

"Easier?" Scott questioned with a tight scowl, "Do you think any of this is easy on me Logan?"

"Of course not," Logan threw his hands up in the air, "because you have a tendency to make things difficult when they don't have to be considering that…"

"Jean's dead. Charles is in a coma and I'm…" Scott stopped himself when he took in an uneasy breath. He shifted on his feet causing him to wince when he pushed his chin up defiantly once again, "I'm on a mission. People are depending on me to save them and if I don't…"

"Then someone else will," Logan frowned reaching out to touch the side of Scott's face in spite of Scott's agitation. In an instant he felt Scott's hand slide up over his attempting to push Logan away with a grunt, but it only further prompted Logan to hold on tighter, to keep Scott caged between him and the tree when Logan's lips came crashing down over Scott's in a rough, predatory sweep. At first Scott resisted pushing his hand out into Logan's abdomen in a halfhearted attempt to shove him away, but soon Scott's fingers were firmly embedded in Logan's unruly hair pulling him closer. With each breath their mouths fused together locked in a battle for dominance until Scott's lips parted finally inviting Logan inside. With each eager taste Logan found himself on fire longing for the way he'd felt so long ago when Scott had been his for the taking ready to immerse himself in temptation. Instinctively Logan dropped one hand down over Scott's hip coaxing Scott to wrap his leg around Logan's body. Pushing forward Logan ground his hips in against Scott hoping to prove to Scott just how much he'd still needed him when Scott let out a small wince indicating that his injured leg couldn't take the positioning.

"Damn," Scott cursed as Logan released him opting instead to coax Scott to lean up against the tree again, "I think that guard dislocated my knee."

"Let me take a look Slim," Logan suggested feeling Scott tense up before him when Logan reached out to touch his face, "please."

Scott nodded arching his head back when Logan reached for the waistband on Scott's pants. He felt Scott tense up expelling a sharp breath when Logan coaxed the pants down over his hips to reveal the bruising that carried upon his skin. There were cuts and burn marks on his thigh stealing the soft warmth of his skin away in favor of deep, painful looking wounds. With each pull of the fabric down over Scott's thin body Logan revealed a rainbow array of tortures that Scott had endured knowing only too well that Scott hadn't deserved any of them. Kneeling down in front of Scott, Logan arched his head up seeing Scott was biting his lower lip when Logan noticed Scott's kneecap in an unnatural positioning a few inches higher than it should've been.

"Scott, it needs to be…" Logan frowned feeling Scott tense up before him when Logan ran his fingers over Scott's skin in a tender brush.

"Just do it Logan," Scott ordered curling his fingers into the tree behind him. He squeezed his eyelids shut tighter than before when Logan focused on Scott's leg. He couldn't help, but shudder in realizing just how thin Scott had become. His body was far from what it had once been after the torture he'd endured, yet as Logan thought about the pain Scott was experiencing he knew he would find a way to fix it somehow.

"It's not going to feel pleasant Slim," Logan replied raising his chin up to watch Scott's expression. He knew Scott was attempting to prepare himself for the worst, to act as if the pain he'd endured wouldn't shake him up any further as Logan's fingers tapered off over Scott's inner thigh determined to take a new path in his investigations.

"Logan, what are you…?" Scott gulped down harder than before as Logan's lips carried over Scott's bare thigh, gently teasing over the bruised skin in a loving press.

"Shh…" Logan whispered rising up on his knees to kiss Scott's hip with fingers easing up over Scott's naked form. Sliding his arms around Scott's body he stretched his fingers out over Scott's bottom gently squeezing at his flesh to pull him in closer. The movement caused Scott to grunt inwardly, his stomach falling concave when his teeth sank into his lower lip in anticipation. Even with pain on his mind there was no denying the arousal that Logan had ignited in Scott as Scott's hardened flesh was revealed to him beautifully unscathed much to Logan's relief. A small kiss over Scott's hip gave Logan the opportunity to take in the other scents upon Scott each one revealing a torture he'd endured, but none that Logan was convinced Scott couldn't recover from.

"My leg," Scott offered up impatiently when Logan pressed a kiss over his naval, "Logan, please just do it."

"I love you," Logan whispered pulling back just long enough to search Scott's twisted features for a moment before he reached for Scott's leg knowing only too well that being brave certainly wasn't going to kill the pain for Scott. However, with the path out of the forest ahead of them Logan knew there was only one option for the both of them. Reaching for Scott's kneecap he took in a breath before speaking up behind gritted teeth, "I'm sorry for this Slim."

"Fuck!" Scott shouted when Logan pushed his kneecap back into place with a snap. The movement caused Scott to tense up and arch into the tree overtaken with sensation. He cried out keeping his eyes closed tightly against his natural instincts to offer up a release. Instead his fingers simply dug deeper into the bark of the tree, his breathing growing heavier with each passing second until Logan felt Scott fall limp in his arms.

"Scott," Logan questioned rising up to collect Scott in his arms when it was clear that Scott had passed out, "Damn it."

Looking around the trees Logan could sense the wind picking up around them when he repositioned Scott in his arms. He raised his head up attempting to look at the sky when he caught a glimpse of the storm clouds overhead indicating that the storm Holly had been speaking up was on the horizon.

"Hold on," Logan whispered realizing that perhaps it was time to get moving again before things spiraled too far out of control around them.

xxxxx

"No!" Scott shouted pulling himself upright on the stone surface beneath him when the nightmare had pulled him from his slumber. With his fingers stretched out on the ground beneath him he could feel the cold ridges beneath him indicating that he was still trapped in his cell. Everything that he'd experienced in his escape had been nothing more than an illusion it seemed as he felt the ground beneath him broken and hard against his touch. It seemed as if everything he'd hoped to have come about had been for nothing when he felt a small tug at his waist coaxing him back onto the ground again.

"Hey," Logan's voice whispered as Scott found himself suddenly surrounded by the strong, solid feel of Logan's arms around his back, squeezing at his waist to hold Scott securely against his chest, "you're safe."

"Where…where are we?" Scott questioned with a shudder when he found himself leaning in against Logan. His leg was propped up on Logan's thigh, carefully positioned to prevent him from feeling the pain he'd remembered in his dream, yet with Logan's hand pressed firmly against the small of his back he attempted to fall to ease again.

"In a cave," Logan replied kissing the top of his head in a comforting movement, "There was a storm outside after you passed out and…"

"My knee," Scott realized thinking about all they'd endured on their escape from the prison he'd been held in, "You pushed my knee back into place and…"

"You passed out on me," Logan finished curling his arm around Scott's waist tighter than before, "For a minute there I figured you'd be out all night on me, but now…"

"I'm sorry," Scott apologized drawing in a breath, "I didn't mean to pass out. I was just…"

"In pain," Logan replied knowingly, "I understand Scott."

"Do you?" Scott questioned raising his chin up as if somehow he could see Logan through the darkness that surrounded him. However, in knowing that he hadn't had his glasses he simply resigned himself to the moment in feeling Logan's hands upon him.

"More than you can imagine," Logan paused when Scott sensed a hesitation in his voice, "I've changed in a lot of ways as well when you were gone Slim."

"Logan," Scott opened his mouth to say something more, but stopped short when another thought carried over him, "Who's Yukio?"

"I met her in Alaska," Logan replied simply, "I spent some time with her in Japan when…"

"Japan," Scott repeated uncomfortably twisting on the floor of the cave, "You were in Japan?"

"That's right," Logan answered offering his hand to Scott. He laced their fingers together before speaking up again, "I spent some time over there after I thought I'd lost you. I needed to get away."

"I understand," Scott nodded, "With everything that happened I realize that…"

"No," Logan reached out to touch Scott's face again, "you don't realize Scott. After I was forced to kill Jean I couldn't live with myself. I couldn't stay there knowing that…"

"Don't," Scott frowned, "I don't want to talk about this."

"I realize that, but…" Logan began again when Scott tensed up over him.

"Did she suffer?" Scott questioned when it was evident his thoughts were of the woman he'd once loved.

"No," Logan answered stiffly, "It was what she wanted after she'd hurt so many people."

"I don't believe that," Scott frowned, "Jean wouldn't want to die. She didn't want that. She would want to live and be happy. She would want…"

"I had no other choice," Logan explained drawing in a breath, "I'd thought that she'd killed you and Chuck and…"

"She tried," Scott divulged painfully, "She wanted to—at least a part of her did, but then when I was there on the ground feeling everything inside of me falling apart there was this light and then…"

"What?" Logan questioned.

"I woke up in Alaska at a hospital about six months ago," Scott explained with uneasiness in his tone, "I had no memory of the man that I was. I was simply an unknown until the moment I opened my eyes and…"

"And what?" Logan questioned feeling Scott tense up over him.

"Nothing," Scott admitted painfully, "Nothing happened."

"What do you mean nothing happened?" Logan replied when Scott felt the brush of fingers against the side of his face, "Scott?"

"I mean…" Scott bit down on his bottom lip, "Nothing happened."

"You keep saying that, but that doesn't make any sense considering that…" Logan's words came to an abrupt ending when Scott took in an uneasy breath. He cleared his throat, turning his head away from where Logan was. His pulse began to race, his thoughts getting the best of him when he squeezed his own fingers in against his thigh.

"There are things that I still don't understand Logan. Even with what happened when we were leaving the slaughterhouse," Scott gulped down harder than before, "I don't know how I was able to do that considering that I've only been able to use my powers two other times since I've awakened because…"

"Because what?" Logan inquired curling his bicep around Scott's body again when Scott nervously fluttered his eyelashes.

"They're gone," Scott whispered tensing up as he slowly turned around to face Logan again through the darkness. Shaking against Logan he felt his eyes focus for the first time in the last few weeks on the hazy shadows around them. He trembled fearing what could happen when he remembered the situation back at the slaughterhouse when his powers had burst out from within out of control and wild in their execution. Now, however, all he had were the shadows and the black around him met by the lines of Logan's face.

"Scott, are you saying that…?" Logan questioned squeezing Scott in closer to him.

"I don't know how I was able to use them at the slaughterhouse like that because even when I will myself to try all I end up with is," Scott paused when Logan came into focus over him, "this."

"Scott," Logan gasped, his lips parting to display the mouth that Scott had known by sensation alone for the time they'd been together. Now, however, it was revealed to him cloaked in shadows and darkness as Logan shifted Scott in his arms. He rolled Scott onto his back guiding Scott over the cave's bottom when Logan twisted up on his arms to lean over Scott, "are you saying that…?"

"I'm not myself anymore," Scott explained with a small shudder, "I haven't been since she left me and now…"

"But at the slaughterhouse…" Logan touched the side of Scott's face, "I saw what you did and…"

"I can't explain it. I've been trying to use my powers for months Logan. Charles thinks I have some kind of mental block that's preventing me from returning to what I once was. He thinks if I can work through it somehow, then they'll return to me," Scott informed him with a sigh, "I've only been met by them sporadically before today. The first time they returned to me I still had no idea who I was. I was in a grocery store picking up a few things and I damn near took the cashier's head off."

"And the second time?" Logan questioned when Scott let out a long sigh.

"Right before the others were taken from the camp," Scott divulged closing his eyes again, "Charles and I were working through what's been happening. He was inside of my head trying to isolate what was keeping me from using my powers poking around and then it happened. After that though…I told myself if I could just focus enough to get a handle on them…"

"You used them today," Logan noted as Scott let out a long sigh.

"I know," Scott replied, "but when I tried earlier it wasn't happening for me. I wasn't able to use them. Granted the people who had taken us weren't aware of that, which is why they had me blindfolded, but a part of me wonders if Jean did this to punish me. Or maybe she was trying to help me. I don't know."

"Jean loved you Scott," Logan replied keeping Scott close to him, "In spite of what happened to her, you were her world."

"I know," Scott nodded poignantly, "and she was mine Logan. I would've done anything to spare her the fate that fell upon her. I just wanted her to be back again for so very long, yet…"

"She wasn't herself when she returned," Logan offered up sympathetically.

"I know," Scott replied quietly, "I realized that at Alkali Lake, but by the time I figured it out it was too late and…"

"Scott?" Logan watched Scott shudder when a breath fell from his lips.

"When I realized who I was I kept replaying that day in my mind," Scott divulged turning his attention to Logan, "Starting with that morning when I walked out on you. The night before I'd been haunted by her, hearing her voice inside my head, but instead of talking about it with you I ran away. I refused to work through what was happening and…"

"So did I," Logan sighed, "You can't blame yourself for everything Scott because I was just as responsible as you were in the way we ended. I should've gone after you. I should've tried to make you stay instead of saying what I did and…"

"Jean knew about us," Scott whispered choked up on his emotions when he tipped his head to the side to look at Logan again, "She told me as much at the lake when she kissed me. There were so many things happening inside of her at the time, but right before she took everything from me she said that she didn't blame us for moving on. She said that she understood that we needed one another and…"

"Jean only wanted you to be happy Scott," Logan explained when Scott let out a long sigh, "You were so important to her Scott."

"She was my first love," Scott mouthed closing his eyes again, "She was special Logan and when we lost her…"

"I know," Logan nodded thinking about the woman who had haunted his dreams, "but at the same time she would want you to be happy. She wanted you safe."

"I'd like to think so, but at the same time…" Scott stopped himself when he forced himself to look at Logan again, "She's been speaking to me in my dreams. I see her almost every night Logan."

"Me too Slim," Logan divulged sliding in closer to Scott, "In her own way I think she was trying to tell me that you were still out there. For so long I believed that you were gone—that somehow the only way to be with you again was to find a way to end it all. After I lost you I had no reason anymore. There was no point in being around at the school or anywhere else for that matter."

"Are you saying that?" Scott's eyes widened with surprise.

"I damn near lost it all," Logan confessed with a shake of his head, "I didn't mind the idea of it either, but then when Jean told me that she was alone it did something to me. At first my mind didn't want to process it, but then after the nightmares grew more intense… Scott, I think in her own way Jean wanted me to find you here. She wanted me to save you from all of this and…"

"She told me that you were coming to me Logan," Scott added unable to mask the thoughts that carried over him, "In my dreams she told me that you were on your way to rescue me. She found the idea in itself to be amusing considering that I've always said I wasn't in need of rescuing. She told me not to be stubborn about it like I've always been. She told me not to run from it any longer."

"Run from it?" Logan replied turning his attention to Scott's full, lush lips.

"From us Logan," Scott reached out to press his fingertips over the bristling strands of hair across Logan's cheek, "even in all the regret and guilt I felt over how things played out Jean was telling me not to let go of what we have. Deep down I knew that I didn't want to, but after all that happened I was just so afraid to show you what I was and…"

"You're beautiful Slim. How could you fear sharing this with me?" Logan questioned watching as Scott's long, dark eyelashes fluttered once again.

"I don't even know what I am now, so the idea of explaining it to you of all people had me inside of myself wondering if…" Scott paused shaking the thought, "It doesn't matter anymore, does it?"

"Not with you beside me. You should never have to feel like you have to hide what you are from me Scott. Your eyes are blue, aren't they?" Logan mused sliding his thumb over the indent in Scott's cheekbone.

"Yes, but…" Scott's words were brought to an end when Logan leaned forward to press a kiss over the center of Scott's forehead, "Logan…"

"They're beautiful," Logan whispered when his lips tapered off over Scott's right eyelid. His mouth teased over the warm and inviting skin before he repeated the movement over the left eyelid as well.

"I wanted to tell you, but at the same time…" Scott tensed up again, "I was afraid of what could happen if I wasn't careful. I've been keeping myself safe from the moment I found Charles again. I've been pretending everything was fine because if my powers returned to me around the others and I hurt any of them…"

"You can't hurt me Scott," Logan promised cupping Scott's face in his hands, "You should know by now that isn't a possibility."

"I'm dangerous Logan," Scott whispered reluctantly opening his eyes to reveal the fear brewing behind them, "Before I knew what to expect, but now I'm a loose cannon. I'm…"

"Vulnerable which I know is incredibly hard for you to be," Logan noted dipping down to kiss Scott tenderly. The movement was unexpected, yet welcoming as Scott stretched his arm out around Logan's shoulders to hold him closer.

"It's not a position I relish being in," Scott murmured against Logan's lips. The words buzzed over his skin causing Logan's flesh to form goose bumps when his left hand pressed upon Scott's hip in a tender gesture.

"I know that," Logan noted dropping kisses over the side of Scott's neck.

"Yet you're enjoying it, aren't you?" Scott questioned with a sigh when Logan's fingers pushed in underneath the bloodied shirt Scott's captors had given him.

"I've never enjoyed watching you suffer unless it was at my hand," Logan teased with a wink when he pushed himself up on his elbows to look down at Scott, "I'm just happy that you're still alive Slim."

"We have to save Charles," Scott mouthed when his brow creased with tension, "What they did to him can be reversed. There's a cure to what they did that I was planning on locating and…"

"You let yourself get captured on purpose, didn't you?" Logan frowned pulling away from the kiss only to see Scott's jaw flex with determination.

Scott nodded, "I wasn't planning on them taking the others, but I knew if I found my way inside, then I'd be able to locate a cure for Charles and…"

"They hurt you Scott," Logan snarled rolling onto his side away from Scott, "They could've killed you and…"

"They didn't," Scott explained pointedly, "They gave me the information that I needed and…"

"And nothing," Logan frowned, "What you did was stupid and reckless and…"

"It got the job done," Scott replied reaching into the pocket of his pants to pull out a small paper he'd kept tucked inside of it for the last couple of days, "I have what I needed."

"What is that?" Logan inquired giving Scott a long look.

"It's the formula for the cure," Scott replied with a small smile, "and now that I have it we can work on bringing Charles around. We can get moving on it and…"

"Scott, do you have any idea how dangerous this was to do on your own? Allowing yourself to be taken captive was…" Logan chastised with a frown.

"About as reckless as never listening to any of my orders or attacking a guard and breaking into a place where they were on high alert for mutants," Scott wiggled his brow suggestively at Logan, "Tell me something Logan. Did you think I wouldn't notice the fact that you reek of garlic and onions? Even without being able to see you I could tell which guard you took that uniform from and…"

"Slim…" Logan began again only to be met by a frown.

"We can save Charles. The others are free and now," Scott pushed his fingers up into Logan's shoulder to squeeze at the muscled flesh, "maybe we can work towards healing together. Jean would want that."

"I want that," Logan moved in to kiss Scott again. Through the darkness he could see Scott's bruised cheek when he pulled back, "but if you're hurt I don't want to…"

"The most agony I've endured is in imagining that I'd have to spend a life without you," Scott whispered wrapping Logan in his arms as their kisses grew in intensity taking a life of their own with the storm surrounding them.

Silently their hands charted the same paths they'd taken with one another long ago, touching one another with the same warmth and eagerness that had been present the first time they'd been together. Rolling onto his back Logan pulled Scott over him never breaking the contact between them. Their kisses grew in intensity expanding beyond what was familiar into need when Logan's hand pressed in over Scott's hip. He squeezed gently while falling back onto the floor with Scott over him. He watched as Scott pulled his shirt up over his head to reveal the far too frail looking torso of the man Logan had longed for. The sight in itself caused Logan to feel a shudder upon him, but he held back simply reaching out to pull Scott to him in another kiss.

"I love you," Scott whispered against Logan's mouth. Logan ran his hands up and down over Scott's spine imprinting each contour to his memory, every taste to his mind in order to hold onto the moment forever.

"I love you too Slim," Logan growled squeezing Scott closer to him in knowing that at long last he'd found his way home after years of misery and loneliness believing that he'd spend his life alone. Now with Scott in his arms kissing him and holding onto him he knew that for the first time in a long time everything was going to be alright. Somehow everything would find a way to work itself out even with the changes they'd endured along the way.


End file.
